Automatic railway-switch adjuster.



No. 827,133;- PATENTEDJULY 31,1906.

YL, 0. BROWN, AUTOMATIC RAILWAY swn'cn ADJUSTER.

I APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 16. 1906.

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THE mmkls PETERS 50., WASHINGTON, n. c.

No. 827,138. PA-TENTBD JULY a1, 1906. L. c. BROWN.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY s'wncu ADJUSTER.

v APPLIOATIOK FILED MAB. 16.1906.

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PATENT OFFICE. I

LLOYD BROWN, F INDIANArO Is, INDIANA, AssIeN'OR ONn-H LE- To LLEWELLYNH. BLANTON AND rnnnn-nlenrnspro AM OS D.

'BLANTON', OF INDIANAPOLIS, IND ANA.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY-SWITCH TmaZZ whom it mag concern:

. Be it known that I, LLOYD 0. BROWN, a

citizen'of the United States, residing at 111- dianapolis, in the countyof Marion and State 5 of Indiana, haveinvented new and.usefulImprovements in Automatic Railway-Switch Adjusters; andI do declarethe'following to be afull, clear, and exact description of theinvention, reference being had to the accom-- der manual control, theinvention having A particular reference-toparts of the ap aratusarranged in connection with the'switc es and also to the devices on themotors or cars.

Objects of the invention are, first, to provide improved adjustingdevices for the switches,. particularly the devices thereof that aredesigned to be elevated above the ground so as to be engaged bythe-moving devices that are carried by the cars, and,sec- 0nd, toprovide the cars with improved apparatus that may be adapted to engageand actuate the adjusting devices that are arranged in connection withthe switches; and specifically it is an object to improve theswitchadjusting apparatus described in my application for LettersPatent, Serial No. 218,331, filed July 27, 1904:, wherein is shown apair'of horizontally-movable operating-levers adapted to be elevatedabove the ground so as to be engaged by either one of two devicescarried by each car and a device adapted to be depressed by thecar-wheels in order to elevate the pair of levers.

Other. objects are to reduce the cost of production of apparatus of. theabovementioned character; p A Withthe above-mentioned objects in viewthe invention consists in a switch-lever of improved form andarrangement for' moving the armthat directlycontrols the switch-point,the lever being elevated and depressed by 1 means of the presser-barthat is designedto be actuated by theflanges of the car-wheel's.

depressed and means for adjusting the arm I Specification of LettersPatent. Application filed. March 16, 1905. Serial No. 250.395.

mounted on motors or'cars and operatingun- The invention -consists alsoin improved Patented July 31, 19o6.

vertically and'radially so as to actuatev the sw tch-lever and, theinvention consists, furtions and arrangements of vparts, as hereinafterparticularly described and claimed.-

Referring tothedrawings, Figure '1 isa,

plan of a part of'a'railway-track and the im'., ,provements arranged inconnection therewith, the' housing for the apparatus havin' uncoveredhand-holes; 'Fig. 2, a vertica transverse sectionalview on the line AAin Fig. ,1; Fig. 3, a'vertical transverse section of a modified form ofswitch-lever; Fig 4, a view similar-to Fig. 2, with the difference thatthe arrangement" of the modified form of switch-lever isillustrated inlieu of the preferred form; Figl5, an inverted-plan of the apparatusthat is shown in Fig. 1 in its hous-- view on the line BB in Fig. 1; Fi8, a fragshowing parts of a car su ortin'g parts of the improvedapparatus and illustratingthe mannerof adjusting the switch, the carbeing in central section and. theother elements in .mentary diagrammaticsectiona elevation side elevation; Fig. 9, a"vertical"tran sversesection on the lineA A in Fig. 1 and trans-' versely ofa car'shown inthe act of cooperating to elevate the sWitch-le'ver; Fig. 10, a rearelevation of the foot-operated devices for ad' justing theradially-movable wedge that is mounted on the car; Fig. 11, a top planof the wedge and its connections detached from the car,the point ofthe'wedge'b eing curtailed somewhat; Fig. 12, a top-plan of the wedge andits connections in operative position rela tively, and aside'elevationof'the wedge.

7 Similar reference characters in the draw- 'ings designatecorresponding parts or features.

l I In Figs. 1, 4, 5, 7, and'S the earth or foundations are omittedin'order to avoid obscuring the important elements of the invention.

"The rails are designated by a, a, b, and b,

and c designatesjaguard rail, d the switch-- .point, and e thepivotthereof,f the connect' ing-stud near the movable endg of thepoint'forthe manipulation thereof. The housing 55 ther, in the novelparts andin'the combina is'design'ated by 72. and is "composed Ofcast iron ofsuitable length and relatively narrow, except at its head end where theswitch-lever is located therein. The body of the housing ingtransversely to the track.

has but little depth; but the head end is somewhat deeper and has alateral section extending to one rail, while the body of the housing isarranged centrally between the two rails of the track. The deeper end ofthe housing has guides h and k for guiding the lower end of thepreferred form of switch-lever, and in the top of the housing arehand-holes 71. and h, which in practice will be suitably covered. Thehousing is designed to be covered by paving, and about the hand-hole h aflange extends to the top of the paving. On the top 'of the housing isalso a flange i, extending to the top of the paving and surrounding aslot the top of the housing, the slot extend- The flanges, however, willbe omitted when it may be desired to arrange the top of the housingflush with the road-grade. The switch-lever k is arranged to operate inthe slot j and is the i preferred form of lever, being a one-pieceelement,-'the upper end thereof being normally flush with the paved orgrade surface, the lower end of the lever being suitably supported sothat the lever may be bodily elevated somewhat for cooperating to adjustthe switch.

The modified form of switch-lever Z is guided at its upper end in theslot j, and its lower portion has a guide-socket Z, in which is aguide-bar Z that has its lower end pivoted to a projection m, fixed inthe housing, the lever being adapted to move endwise on the-guide b'ar,and it is provided with projectio'ns WaDd TU for use-in its support andconi trol in substantially the same manner that the lever 76 iscontrolled.

Atransverse lever 0 is pivoted to a bracket 19, that is'fixed to thehousing. One end of the lever is connected to a presser-bar q, that isarranged at the inner side of the rail a so as to be depressed bypassing car-wheel flanges, and the other end of the lever 0 is connectedto the lower end of the switch-lever Z? by means of a pivot a 7 When thelever Zis used, a lever 0 is used inconnection therewith, the latterbeing similar tothe lever o in form and arrangement, except that it hastwo fingers 1 and 2 at its free end which extend between the projectionn and a ateither side of the lever Z or the socket thereof, so as tocontrol its positions and its movements vertically in the slot j.

- In the head end of the housing is a horizontal guide 8, which supportsthe working end "ofan arm i, which has its other end connected tothe-housing by a pivot u, said working end having a air of fingers 3 and4, extending to either "side of the switch-lever k or Z, so s'a's to'bemoved and controlled thereby.

A link o is conn'ecte'd to'the arm t by a pivot '5 and it is alsoconnected tothe switchspoint by means of the stud f, so that a train ofconnections extend from the switch-point to the switch-lever. Adrain-pipe 6 is connected to the deeper part 7 of the housing forcarrying away water that may enter the housing through the slot In Figs.8 and 9 the numeral 8 designates the car-body, having a platform 9. Acylindrical shaft w is secured to the car-body (or to the platform, ifpreferred) and extends downwardly near the forward axle of the carwheelsin a plane centrally between the two track-rails. A sleeve 3: isarranged on the shaft w so as to move endwise and also rotativelythereon, and the sleeve is provided with an arm 10, to which isconnected a lever y, that is pivoted to a stud 2, and the stud ispivoted to the platform 9. A spring 11, suitably supported, is connectedto the lever y and supports its free end, and thereby the sleeve (1;,and by this means the sleeve may be depressed in order to adjust theswitch when the wheel 12 carries its flange 13 onto the presser-bar q.The end of the lever a has a jaw engaging the arm 10, and the arm has aslot 14, through which extends a )in 15, that is secured to the jaw endof the fever y. A wedge 16 is secured to the lower end of the sleeve :nfor engaging the switch-lever Zn or Z and normally the point of thewedge is carried midway between the two track-rails.

The wedge 16 is provided with two yielding arms 17 and 18, that areconnected by pivots 19 and 20 to the broad rear end of the wedge, theends of the arms being held apart in their normal relative positions bya spring 21, compressed between them, the outer faces of the armsforming continuations of the angular sides of the wedge.

In order to directly control and operate the lever y, it is providedwith two lateral angular arms 22 and 23, the ends of which nor mallyrest in recesses in the under side of a rocking lever 24, that ispivoted centrally to a hanger 25, which is supported beneath theplatform 9. Push-bars 26 and 27 are pivoted to the lever 24 and areconnected to treadles 28 and 29, which extend above the platform, sothat they may be manually operated. A spring 30 is suitably supported soas to be engaged by a lug 31, secured to one side of the lever 24 whenthe lever is tilted, a similar spring 32 being arranged at the oppositeside for engagement with a corresponding lug 33. The lever y is held upto the lever 24 by the spring 11 and centrally by the lever 24, whichhas inclined under faces 34 and 35 diverging downwardly, the faces beingadapted to engage the ends of the arms 22 and 23 and to thereby draw thelever y to its central position, and thus hold the point of the wedge inits central position.

In the above-described construction the several elements are simple inform and arrangement and eliminate objectionable feaother than thosedescribed may fairly be tures that have heretofore been included inmechanism for automatically adjusting switches, and obviously minormodifications made without departing from the scope of the invention.

In practical use the presser-bar q normally,

is elevated, and the switch-lever k or Z depressed, so that when acar-wheel depresses the bar 9 the switch-lever will be elevated. Whenthe switch requires adjusting, the. proper one of the treadles 28-or 29must be depressed while the car approaches the switch, andwin depressingthe treadle the rocking lever 24 will be caused to tilt, and therebycause the lever y to be depressed and at the same time to be movedlaterally, thereby swinging the arm and also rotating and depressing thesleeve :10, which in turn properly positions the wedge 16. The lever kor Z may be positioned at either end of the slot y', and when the wedge16 is properly set the lever will be moved thereby radially to theopposite end of the slot, being guided thereby, moving the arm t and theswitch-point by reason of the connecting-fingers 3 and 4 and. the link1). After adjusting a switch the treadle is to be released, and thespring 30 or 32 will cause the lever 24 to start to return to its normalposition, after which the spring 1 1 will cause the lever y tocompletethe movement. When excessive lost motion in the car-journalsmight ordinarily cause the heel of the wedge (if solid) to bend theswitchlever is or Z, this evil will be obviated by means of the arms 17and 18, which will yield slightly rather than injure the switchlever. X

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is Y 1.Automatic switch-adjusting apparatus including a movable switch-point, ahousing. having a guide-slot in the top thereof, an arm pivoted in thehousing extending approximately to the guide-slot of the top thereof andcontrolling the switch-point, a switch' lever supported in the housingin engagement with the arm and extending movably into the guide-slot ofthe top of the housing, and means for temporarily elevating theswitchlever.

2. Automatic switch-adjusting apparatus including a movableswitch-point, a housing havinga guide-slot in the top thereof, an armpivoted in the housing extending approximately to the guide-slot of thetop thereof and controlling the switch-point, a pivot in the housing, aswitch-lever supported on the pivot and extending'movably into'theguideslot of the top of the housing, a connection between the armand theswitch-lever, and

means for temporarily'elevating the switchlever.

3. Automatic switch-adjusting apparatus including a movableswitch-point, a housing having a guide-slot in the top thereof, an armpivoted in the housing extending approximately to the guide-slot andcontrolling the switch-lever for the temporary elevation of theswitch-lever through the slot.

4. Automatic switch-adjusting apparatus including a movableswitch-point, a housing having a slot in the top thereof, an arm pivotedin the housing extending under the slot that is in the top of thehousing and controllingthe switch-point, a switch-lever supported in thehousing in engagement with the arm and extending through the slot of thehousing, means for temporarily elevating the switch-lever, a guide forthelower por tion ofthe switch-lever in the housing, avertically-adjustable and radially-adjustable device carried by a carand adapted to engage and shift the switch-lever, and a controller forthe device:

5. In automatic switch-adjusting apparatus, a Wedge provided at the baseor rear end thereof with yielding arms, and springs yieldingly holdingthe arms in their normal positions, in combination with means for movingthe wedge vertically and radially, and a switch-lever adapted to beengaged by the wedgeand cooperating to adjust a switch.

6. In automatic switch-adjusting apparatus, a controlling-leversupported pivotally at an end thereof, a sleeve having an arm connectedto the other end of the lever, a guide for the sleeve, a wedge attachedto .the sleeve, a stationary hanger, a rocking lever pivoted to thehanger and ada ted to force the controlling-lever downward y andlaterally, and a pair of treadles connected to the rocking lever, incombination with a spring supporting. an end of the controlling-leverand the wedge, and a switch-lever adapted to be engaged by the wedgeandcooperating to adjust a switch.

In testilnony whereof I afiix my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

LLOYD C. BROWN Witnesses:

WM. I-I. PAYNE, E. T. SILvr'us.

